A’s vs. Giants — fire away

With the first A’s-Giants game tonight, I’m finding it tough to do my annual post making fun of the other guys. They have the better record. Billy Beane has been forced to do the same thing that Brian Sabean has done, signing past-their-prime guys to fill in for weaknesses in developing position players. And, like the A’s in the 1990s, the Giants have taken advantage of their poor record in recent years to draft top talent, Lincecum, Bumgarner, Posey, Wheeler. It’s not that easy — look at the Pirates.

But there are still a few things.

Edgar Renteria continues the Giants’ annual tradition of overpaying for free agents. Maybe Brian thought his name was Edgar Santeria and he could put a hex on the high-flying Dodgers.

The way the Giants are treating San Jose like a protectorate of the smaller city of San Francisco, why don’t they just rename their single-A affiliate the Colonials?